Chalk me up as another vet that loves Planetside2

[Illtempered]

Yeah, bring the flames. I'm quite sure that because I don't post in the forums enough, and probably am not an OL of a leet enough, or big enough outfit, that my input doesn't matter. I'm quite sure I'm just a nub that doesn't know what he's talking about, and probably just came from COD on the x-box.

Actually I came from the world of Tribes, Quake, Counterstrike, and UT, and played competitively in some of them. I know my shooters. I started playing Planetside shortly after release, and I've been an outfit leader for the last six years. I started on Markov VS, and joined a zergfit called Trispears. A few of us got tired of the zerg and started Brotherhood of Fallen Angels, a small spec ops outfit that grew in size over the years. I've also played with and against the best of the best when it comes to Planetside outfits and players. I took a sabbatical for a while and went to TR Emerald. I came over for the invasion of Markov with Emerald's Finest, and we turned Auraxis purple on Markov. I've run with, and been member of the best outfits in Planetside, like DARK, DT, VHM, TRx, HT, and PCP, just to name a few. I've been around just about as long as any of you, and invested as much of my life into Planetside as any of you. Hell, I even had a divorce over it. I still contend that she watched too much TV, but ahem, I digress....sure do miss that 'ol girl.

My outfit and I are having a hell of a lot of fun with Planetside2. I'm having as much or more fun than I did in Planetside, a game that kept me playing and paying a sub for ten years. Most of my old outfit members from PS1 retired a long time ago, and few even made the transition, so when I started playing Planetside2, I decided I would create a new VS outfit on Waterson. We've been having a blast, and membership has done nothing but go up. I've noticed a little drop in server pop late at night, but that's all. I don't know if it's because of Total Biscuit or what, but we have plenty of epic battles on Waterson. The 50% TR pop kind of adds to the role-playing, fighting against an evil empire. However, usually during prime-time the pops are about equal.

I just want to address some of the criticism directed towards Planetside 2, and remember I'm speaking from the perspective of Waterson. I haven't spent any time on the other servers. Here are some of the complaints that I hear the most from the community.

"Bases are too hard to defend." - While I tend to agree, some people might be surprised if they actually tried defending the base. I'm guilty of it myself, and there are certain bases that I really refuse to bother with. There are some others though, that because of their geographical location, and/or other factors, are quite defensible. We defend all kinds of bases, yes even AMP Stations and Tech Plants(post-nerf). We look for farms all over the place, even bases we know nothing about but look fun to fight at. Try assigning squads in your platoon to certain areas, like certain vulnerable points, or important generators. The enemy is so used to people running away from defense, they usually get lazy and fall asleep in an attack. We, like any outfit, have also been farmed a few times. I try not to let my guys get farmed at all, but inevitably it happens.

"There's too much vehicle spam" - Sounds like more targets to me. TTK on vehicles is less in Planetside 2 than it was in Planetside, is it not? It sure seems like it. Find the choke-point, get your mines down, focus fire, and watch that armor start dropping like flies. You're getting spawn-camped? Uh oh, maybe you should have secured another spawn point. Maybe you should spawn somewhere else and come back with your own armor or air.

"Air is too OP" - BS. Some of the farms we started were AA farms. Ask those pilots running from our Dual-Bursters if air is OP. You should have seen what we could do at Scarred Mesa Skydock before they nerfed it. We had some epic holds there to save Indar. Though, it wasn't impossible to take. We did lose it a couple times to well-coordinated Galdrops and cover from their Libs. If you can no-longer deal with air from the ground, it's time to redeploy some people to the warp-gate and come back with ESF's.

"Every empire just zergs on one continent." - This isn't really a problem on Waterson, but if it is on your server, then take your outfit elsewhere. Don't have an outfit? Join one. Planetside is nothing without outfits. I make it a point to never have my outfit on a continent where our empire has high pop. If VS have more than 40% you can bet I'm looking really hard at the map to find a new target, and we always find one. Yeah sometimes we are outnumbered 80%-20%. Sometimes, we even hold with that pop until help arrives. Sometimes we have the best farm we've ever had. Sometimes we get stomped. Se la vi.

"There's no meta-game." - I would agree that there isn't enough of one, but you can play one. Ever since Total Biscuit invaded our server we've had a meta-game. We hold Indar, and try to take as much of the other continents as possible, all the while focusing on TR and their big pop. We've rushed into a cont a number of times, just to help NC hold a benefit, so TR didn't zerg the entire world. Hopefully the meta-game only gets better, and I think it will.

These are just some of the complaints I hear the most. My biggest problem with the game is the ridiculous free2play system. If Planetside2 is ruined, I fear that will be the way of it. To release an unfinished game, prematurely, then charge real money for weapons that get nerfed two weeks later, is just lame any way you look at it. Having said that, I still love Planetside2. I still have faith, because of the community, and the firm foundation of gaming it's built on. I'm also encouraged by the devs actually listening to the community, even though it has it's downside. With enough crying about something, nerfs are inevitable. That's why I took the time to start a thread, voicing my opinions and concerns, and defending what I love about the game.